Ruckus January 26, 2012

Ruckus January 26, 2012

Ruckus is a lively roundtable about the big ticket issues that face our community today. Moderator Mike Shanin leads the ensemble of conservatives and liberals as they duke it out over whose view will stand.

State of the Union
The president delivered his State of the Union address Tuesday evening. We will discuss style, substance and reaction. GOP response will be offered by Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels.

Mitt Takes a Hit!
In the GOP presidential race, Newt Gingrich scored a major victory over Mitt Romney in the South Carolina primary last Saturday. We will discuss the state of the GOP race and the four remaining candidates.

Fiery Discussion
In his budget outline, Kansas City, Missouri, City Manager Troy Schulte has proposed significant cuts to the Fire Department. The Chief claims such cuts would violate national safety standards. Yael has been critical of the Fire Department’s budget and staffing for several years.

Speaker Should Stick to Speaking!
Kansas Speaker Mike O’Neal has sent a couple of controversial e-mails about the Obama family that have gone “viral.” Despite his apologies, a group of ministers has collected 30,000 online signatures calling for his resignation.

Ruckus describes itself as: “lively roundtable about the big ticket issues that face our community today.” Therefore, as a regular viewer, I expected to hear lively discussion on the current issue of Catholic Bishops’ opposition to contraception coverage, given that there are clear conservative and liberal viewpoints. However, I was very disappointed in the handling of this topic. In particular, I found that Mike Shannon’s behavior of disrespect and his dismissive treatment of Ms. O’Halloran was unexpected and wrong, given that this is a show of multiple views. I had the sense that he didn’t want to hear her views. Now, why is this so? Many of us tune in to hear diverse and challenging discussion, and in fact, expect to “enjoy the ruckus.” Not only was the topic very edgy and important, but also revealing of social values. What else is this show to be about? Mr. Shannon, you are not doing a good job in handling such issues, and I must ask you to apologize to Ms. O’Halloran and to the viewers.

Sly

Mr. Shannon should not apologize, as he finally found a cork to slow the rambling flow of Ms. O’Halloran’s continual hogging the conversation and talking over everyone with her cherished views.